Watch: Robin Williams speaks before Senate on homelessness

Robin Williams, the late actor and comedian, came to Congress in 1990 on behalf of legislation to help prevent homelessness.

He testified before the Senate Health and Humans Services panel through his work with Comic Relief, a non-profit organization dedicated to helping the homeless. C-SPAN posted the two-hour Senate hearing featuring Williams, sitting beside Whoopi Goldberg, after news of the entertainer’s death spread on Monday. We’ve posted a seven-minute clip below.

The Senate hearing, chaired by Edward Kennedy, may not be as entertaining as Williams’ Oscar-winning role in Good Will Hunting or as riveting as the actor’s indelible turns in Dead Poets Society and Good Morning, Vietnam. But the C-SPAN video is a reminder of the power of celebvocacy in Washington — something that transcends partisan labels.

Watch Williams — a little nervous but serious and occasionally quick with a quip — as he reads his testimony. C-SPAN’s Howard Mortman says the cable channel’s Twitter post about the Williams testimony is now its second-most retweeted item.